Yesterday I made about seven zillion litres of laundry detergent!
With a family of sensitive skinned people, and me always trying to find ways of trimming the budget, I figured I should give it a whirl. I scoured the internet for recipe ideas, preferably involving things I had in the house already - buying more stuff doesn't fit in with the money saving aspect.
Frugal Kiwi had a winning recipe for me! I added some eucalyptus oil too, that stuff has super cleaning powers & smells good.
250g (1 cup) Borax (aka borax pentahydrate, sodium borate, sodium tetraborate, or disodium tetraborate)
125g (1/2 cup) washing soda (aka Sodium carbonate, soda crystals or soda ash)
1 regular sized bar of soap around 85g (3 oz)
Grate the soap and put into a pot with about 1 litre (4 cups) of water. Heat the water until the soap is almost melted, but avoid bringing to a boil. Pour into the 20 litre bucket. Add 11 litres (44 cups) of warm water to the bucket. Add washing soda and stir until dissolved. Add borax and stir until dissolved. Your mixture will now look like soapy water. Cover with your bucket lid and let sit overnight.
Load number one is washing right now...will report back on my success (being optimistic here!)
ps...if you're in the mood to brew some up yourself, my wonderful friend who runs
EcoFreaks has a splendid array of bulk chemicals for making cleaning products, along with loads of other very fabulous stuff. Check her out.
